Closer To Fine
by Murasaki
Summary: Alex introduces Isabel to his world and his friends.


Part 1

Alex and Isabel are watching Buffy at the Parker's while Max and Liz are working on a science project or something in Liz's room. This is the moment of truth. Willow is trying to crack the encrypted file the Scooby gang has stolen, no scratch that, the file they have backed up from the Initiative's computer. The solution has eluded her for the past ten minutes. Everybody is at Giles' pacing impatiently while she's working feverishly. Genius can't be rushed, but it looks like she's just stumbled onto something when a commercial break comes on. 

Mr. Parker comes into the living room just then. "Alex, are you guys going to get tickets for the IG concert?" 

"Yes." Alex grins widely. "The tickets are going on sale Sunday at 10am. We're going to UNM to get them. Do you want me to pick up a couple of tickets for you?" Mr. Parker was the one who took Liz, Maria and Alex to their first Indigo Girls concert back in 5th grade. It's always fun to sit next to him because he's got the harmony part to all their songs down. He always wears his tie dyed t-shirts to their concerts. Alex even saw pictures of him as a student at Berkeley when he used to have long hair. "Could you do that? It would be too cool. You guys got those great seats last year."

"We're already getting tickets for the whole gang, so that's no problem." Mr. Parker gives him some money to cover the price of the tickets as well as the exhorbitant handling fees and leaves them in front of the TV.

Buffy's back on. Xander is hovering behind Willow, trying to see if she's getting close. This has to be one of the most dramatic plots in recent shows. How is Sunnydale's resident hacker extraordinaire going to find the encryption key and save the day? Another brilliantly written Buffy episode. Alex can't help but deeply relate. He squeezes Isabel's left hand to communicate his excitement.

Isabel glances at him. What she likes the most about Buffy, aside from her dreamy boyfriend Riley, is that she's a popular girl with special powers and she kicks butt. It is kind of fun to see Buffy sock it to the bad guys, even if Isabel's always been a bit confused about why Buffy is such a scrawny girl. Wouldn't someone bigger and more physical do a better job of this slaying business? In any case, it's always fun to watch Buffy with Alex. His delight at the campy moments is contagious. As a side bonus, they can justify making out a little when things get heated on the show. Tonight's show is a bit slower than usual though. Maybe they could put the dead time to good use? She squeezes Alex's hand back and he turns to her. She looks him straight in the eyes and gives him a slow smile. He usually can't resist that combination. She's had pretty good results with it.

This time is no exception. When Alex sees Isabel's inviting expression, his higher brain functions are momentarily suspended. She's beaming an irresistible smile at him. He knows she wants to kiss him and his heart rate accelerates. Every time she sends him a signal like that, he is stunned all over again that this goddess among women wants him. Suddenly, he is very conscious of how close they are sitting on the couch. He only needs to move a little, like this, for the side of his body to be in contact with hers. The smell of the perfume she uses, Chanel No 5, invades his senses. He knows it will always be associated in his mind with Isabel. His eyes are drawn to her long eyelashes, the smooth curve of her cheeks, and her soft, luscious lips, which she parts slightly as he holds his breath. She is so beautiful. He's the luckiest guy on earth.

Isabel watches the emotions on Alex's open face. His look of disbelief is so adorable. What did she do to deserve him? She knows he still can't believe she's abandoned her popular friends for good to hang out with him and his friends. He's not arrogant like the jocks she's gone out with before. It's part of his charm. He never takes her for granted. With him she always feels special. He leans towards her slowly and touches his lips to hers gently while his fingers come to rest lightly on the side of her face, next to her right ear. She sighs and opens her mouth to let him in, touching her tongue to his. He angles his mouth to get better access and starts stroking her softly, urging her to do the same. This is usually the part where she forgets why she was ever scared to get close to him. He's so gentle and careful. She's always amazed at how great a kisser he is. Alex's eyes have closed, his senses are wholly focused on her as always when they are touching. 

"Izzy, Alex, is that your cell phone I'm hearing?" Max's annoyance is obvious in his voice. Isabel jumps a little in surprise and sits up. Somewhere along the line they've fallen against the couch and Alex was half way lying on top of her. Just a few weeks back she would not have been caught dead in a public display of affection, but somehow it keeps happening when she's with Alex. It doesn't seem like she can control herself with him. Alex looks at her, still dazed. He's disappointed Isabel pulled away, but he figures it's safest. It wouldn't do to have their fearless leader pissed off at him. Also Max is right, a phone is ringing somewhere. In fact, it's Isabel's. She talks in the phone for a minute, then silently hands it to him. "It's Scott." Alex gave his bandmate Scott Isabel's cell phone number just in case. Scott is in charge of borrowing his sister's car for them to go to Albuquerque Saturday night. Last year they took sleeping bags and camped outside of UNM's ticket office so they could be the first in line to get tickets. There were already a couple of college girls in line when they arrived. Still, they were able to score fourth row seats, in the center. Scott was supposed to report success or failure to Alex, in case a backup plan was needed. 

Alex sits up, and puts it to his ear. "Hello, it's Alex." 

"Hey Alex, I got the car. My sister said we can have it as long as we get her a ticket too. She even gave me the money for it. What's the plan?" Alex looks at Isabel who seems to be having trouble following what's going on. "Let's meet at the Crashdown on Saturday at 6pm? We can have a bite to eat and leave after that.." Scott agrees and they hang up.

Alex is thinking about Saturday night. He's bummed out he'll be missing out on spending the evening with Isabel, but duty calls. He puts an arm around Isabel and grins at her. He just had a capital idea. "Hey Izzy, how would you like to go camping with me, Scott and Cathy at UNM Saturday night?"

Isabel is puzzled. Spending the night waiting in line for concert tickets sounds a bit too goofy even for Alex and his friends. Why would anyone want to do that? And yet she would hate to let him go by himself and miss out on some quality time with him. "It's going to be a lot of fun, you'll see. It's like this bonding experience, we'll meet some fun people." Alex urges. Isabel hasn't refused outright. That's a good sign. Usually it means she's open to being convinced. Isabel is trying to consider her options. Falling asleep outside looking at the stars with Alex could be really nice. After that kiss, she can't really say no to him anyway. "Okay. I'll have to let my parents know, and pack…

"Hold on. The whole idea is that we're just going there and coming back Sunday morning right after 10am. You don't need anything other than your sleeping bag." 

Isabel arches an eyebrow at him. "Really?" The line has to be drawn somewhere. Alex may be a great kisser, but he clearly has no idea what are the bare necessities that are required when a girl is spending the night away from home. Alex recognizes that look of determination in her eyes and backs down. It's not that he's a coward, he just knows how to pick his fights. 

Part 2 

It's 6:15pm on Saturday when Alex pushes the front door of the Crashdown with Isabel behind him. Scott and Cathy are probably already there. Cathy is a punctuality freak, worse even than Liz. He looks around. Sure enough, they're in one of the booths in the back. They saw him come in and wave to him. They know Isabel from school but Cathy isn't in any of the same classes as her, so they haven't officially met. Alex takes Isabel's hand. They walk together to Scott and Cathy's table and Alex says Hi and apologizes for being late before sliding onto the bench across from them.

Alex introduces everyone. "Izzy, this is Cathy and Scott." Isabel takes in the appearance of Alex's friends and can hardly believe her eyes. When they're side by side like now, Scott and Cathy look like flower children escaped from the sixties. Both of them have long light brown hair with streaks of blonde, going down to about the middle of their back. They both have blue eyes, but Scott's are hidden behind ultra thick glasses, which give him a junior absent-minded professor look. Cathy is wearing a peace symbol around her neck, resting on top of a blue summer dress. A slight scent of vanilla surrounds her. Isabel is once more starting to have second thoughts about this whole expedition. 

It all started earlier when Alex called to see if she needed any help getting to the Crashdown by 6pm. Isabel is the most wonderful girlfriend anyone could have of course, but she does have a problem with being on time. She broke down on the phone and admitted that she wasn't sure what to pack for the trip, and that her bag wasn't even close to being ready. After a few minutes trying to calm her down, Alex decided he'd better come over. When he got there, she explained her predicament. She had no clue what one was supposed to take to go camping in the city. Were they going to need a tent? What about sleepwear… and how many change of clothes? She seemed really freaked out that she did not know what to expect. So first he had to hug her to make her feel better. Then he attempted a joke.

"Hey, I thought Max was supposed to be the controlling one in the family." She shot him a dark look. Wrong approach. To make things worse, he got distracted as he always did when she was pouting and an uncontrollable urge to kiss her came over him. He made an effort to focus, summoning unknown reserves of self-control. Too late. Isabel had turned back towards her closet, and was surveying its contents again. He was dismissed. After standing around for a few seconds, he went to her bed and sat down.

"I'm taking a sleeping bag, a self-inflating sleeping mat, a towel and a toothbrush." He offered cautiously. "That's all you need. The ticket office is in the student union, there's bathrooms with showers and stuff there." She turned towards him briefly then, and silently pointed at a pile in the corner. He checked it out: sleeping bag, mat, towel, small toiletry bag. He was impressed. She'd obviously thought this through already. It was so great to have a smart girlfriend.

"I have an idea." He motioned her to take a spot next to him on the bed. Clearly, the only thing that was needed was to keep her calm until it was time to leave. She looked at him impatiently, and walked to the bed reluctantly. He took her hand and laid back on the bed, tugging her down with him without warning. Isabel lost her balance and fell on the bed next to him. She propped herself back up to look at him, torn between annoyance and laughter. He was watching her with an innocent smile on his face, trying to send his best 'don't worry be happy' vibes her way. He seemed so genuinely unconcerned, his good mood was contagious. She couldn't help smiling despite the obviousness of his ploy. Alex noticed the softening in her eyes and relaxed. He didn't see her move, but the next thing he knew, she was tickling him to retaliate for catching her by surprise. 

Alex yelped and tried to scramble away from Isabel but she had his hands caught in one of hers and was using her body to pin him down so that he couldn't escape. "Do you admit that I'm the tickle master?" She teased with a glint in her eyes, reminding him of the many times he'd had her at his mercy.

"Yes, yes… you're the tickle master." She looked at him triumphantly and released his hands. He didn't move for a minute, trying to catch his breath while she beamed a smile at him. Alex just watched her happy face, enjoying that rare glimpse of the real Isabel, the one who laughed at his goofy jokes and insisted on meeting him in the eraser room to make out like normal teenagers. Then he let his gaze travel down the perfect curve of her cheek until it rested on the softness of her lips. 

One thing led to another, and the next time Alex checked his watch, it was a few minutes before 6pm. It all came back to him then. They were supposed to be at the Crashdown at 6pm. He jumped to his feet, taking her up with him and started gathering her stuff up to go downstairs. Isabel grabbed a sweater as she went and followed him. When they got down to the bottom of the stairs, he was going to go for the door. She stopped him and took him to the kitchen instead to find her parents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Evans were in the kitchen having a cup of tea. They looked at everything he was carrying in surprise until their gazes rested on his face. Alex had a sinking feeling they could tell what he'd just been up to with their daughter. He had an almost irresistible urge to wipe any telltale signs of lipstick, but he stopped himself in time. Isabel wasn't wearing any today. He finally gathered his wits and looked at Isabel for a sign. She gave him a quizzical glance like she couldn't figure out what was up with him. 

Mr. Evans gave Isabel a hug and told them to have a good time and Mrs. Evans gave both of them a kiss good bye. As Alex was starting back towards the door, Diane picked up the sleeping bag that was about to fall out of his grip. "Let me take you two to the car." Alex could have sworn she was about to crack up. He picked up his stuff on the way and they got out of the house.

Isabel steals a glance at Alex, who is talking animatedly with Scott. "So did you get Linux up and running on your PC? It's really the best way to operate your own web server. You can download Apache for instance." He looks at Cathy. "That's what you have running on yours too?" Alex turns to Isabel. He wants to include her in the conversation, so he explains "Cathy has brought up a web server at school and we're trying to convince the principal to get funding for a DSL line and some equipment."

Cathy nods. "Yeah, it works pretty well. Hey Alex, did I tell you that I got the principal to agree to have a concert to raise money to pay for the school's domain registration?" Scott looks at her proudly and they smile at each other. 

"I checked, and we can register WestRoswellHigh.edu, which would be very cool. We're going to design the whole web site and get everybody to contribute art and stories, and maybe even video clips and music and stuff. It'll be so cool." Scott explains their plans for Isabel's benefit.

"This is great! We can play at the concert. I'll ask Maria if she'd like to do a set too." Alex signals Maria none too discretely, and she stops at their table on her way back to the kitchen. 

"Hey you guys. Do you want to order?" Maria pulls her order pad from her front pocket after greeting everyone. She notices Alex has taken the big plunge. He's introducing Isabel to his friends. So far peaceful coexistence seems to be the order of the day.

Alex shares the news about the fund raising concert and Maria agrees to sing with the Whits backing her up. She comes back with drinks very quickly, careful to put Isabel's Tabasco laced cherry Coke on the other side from Alex's regular Coke. Scott and Cathy are both having iced tea. They believe in staying away from heavily advertised sugar water. Amy would approve.

Isabel has to admit that so far she likes Alex's friends more than she thought she would at first. They're geeky but sweet, like Alex, and they seem passionate about the things they're involved in, not bored and aimless like most of the popular students she used to hang out with. 

The meal is uneventful except for an unfortunate incident after Isabel has excused herself from the table. Alex is caught up in his conversation with Scott and Cathy and mistakenly grabs Isabel's glass and starts to drink from it. Big mistake. He chokes on the Tabasco sauce flavored cherry Coke and coughs, and tears start streaming down his face. He is still trying to recover when Isabel comes back. She's alarmed by his cough and Cathy explains. "I don't know what happened… he took a sip and started to choke." 

Isabel looks at the glass Cathy pointed to and guesses what must have happened when she realizes it's her cherry Coke with Tabasco sauce.

"Oh, Alex, I'm sorry, are you okay?" Alex tries to control his cough and drinks some of his own Coke to soothe the fire in his throat. It helps, and pretty soon, he's able to breathe again. His life has been fraught with many dangers since he learned Isabel's secret and he thought he was prepared, but he had not thought of this one.

Scott is driving his sister's car and Cathy is in the passenger seat with Alex and Isabel in the back. Alex searches his backpack for a minute, finally producing two tapes that he hands to Cathy. "Here are the remastered copies I made of the mix tape and the covers tape." 

Cathy's face lights up as she scans the printed labels Alex made for the cassettes. "Oh, you have Tangled Up in Blue and Wild Horses on there." She pops the tape into the player.

Alex rushes to explain. "I got a boot of the second Berkeley show. It was such a great set. There's also Midnight Train to Georgia and Redemption song on there." Alex sits back and turns to Isabel with a big grin. This is going to be the best road trip. Listening to good music with his friends, and spending some time with Isabel being normal teenagers, or at least as normal as they know how to be. He takes her hand in his as Emily's voice fills the car.

early one morning the sun was shining  
i was laying in bed  
wondering if she'd changed at all  
if her hair was still red  
her folks they said our lives together  
sure was gonna be rough  
they never did like mama's homemade dress  
papa's bank book wasn't big enough  
me i'm standing on the side of the road  
rain falling on my shoes  
i'm heading out to the east coast  
lord knows i've paid some dues  
getting through  
tangled up in blue

Part 3

When Isabel notices the UNM exit off the highway, she is glad the trip is almost over. They have been listening to concert tapes the whole way. In the last half hour, Alex has been stepping up his efforts to get Isabel to join in singing along on the harmony parts or on the song bits that are left to the audience during shows. She's resisted successfully but her defenses are wearing down. 

"Uh… I don't think so, Alex. I can't carry a tune." Just because Alex, Scott and Cathy make it seem easy and fun, doesn't mean it's for everybody. Anyway it's not really Isabel's style to join in these group things. 

Alex smiles and winks at her. "Don't worry, you're in the right hands. We'll teach you." Alex is dying to show his friends that Isabel is not a snob.

Alex seems so eager, she hates to keep saying no to him, but the alternative just seems too scary. "Um… I don't know the lyrics." She says in another attempt to close the subject. But Alex is undeterred.

"This is so not a problem. Hey Scott, do you have any of the songbooks around?" He calls out to the front.

"Sure, I have a couple of them in my guitar case in the trunk." Alex's face falls and he is stumped for a minute trying to solve this problem. There is no way to get the songbooks out of the back just now. He knows if he could convince her to get into the spirit of things, she'd have a blast at the concert. Isabel feels a little guilty when she sees that Alex's smile has disappeared. She reaches for him, hoping that she can distract him and make him forget this small setback.

"Uh? …" He turns to her when he feels her fingertips brush slowly against his open palm, sending shivers down to his toes. She just brought his awareness of her in crystal clear focus and made everything else fade in the background. 

Isabel flashes a small smile at his look of surprise, pleased that she got his undivided attention. "Sorry, I'm really not the singing type. But this is fun, listening to you guys. Do you mind?" 

"No, no… I have been trying a little bit too hard, haven't I?" Alex admits ruefully.

"Just a little. And believe me it's not that I want to be difficult, but I'm really an awful singer, just ask Max or my Mom. Otherwise how could I resist?" Isabel flirts. Did she actually bat her eyelashes right there? Alex is grinning from ear to ear. He doesn't resist when Isabel gives in to the urge to touch him and takes his hand into both of hers.

Sensing her playful mood, Alex sits still, looking at her expectantly, waiting for her next move. He treasures these moments when she lets her guard down and he can actually tell that she enjoys being close to him. 

One of the things that make Alex the best boyfriend in the world™ is that he knows how to put everything on hold and just be there with Isabel. When he does that, it's like he's telling her she's the most important person in the world to him, not his friends, or music or what others are going to think. Her fingers start carefully tracing a lifeline from the center of his palm down to his wrist. She stops on the spot where a small artery is pulsing, tirelessly pumping blood. The beat is surprisingly strong and steady and real. Then she follows the blue line of a vein up his arm. It is faint but slightly more visible than the ones running under her skin. She's never been so aware of the reality of his warm human body, its perfect balance of flesh and blood and the softness of his skin. She's always felt like a visitor in her body, like a stranger in borrowed clothes, but Alex's body somehow fits him completely.

Alex is trying to read the expression on her face. He can feel the weight of her gaze as both of them follow with their eyes the path of her fingertips. They do not leave any visible trace on his skin. But his defenses are peeling back in the wake of her light touch, revealing the emotions he usually hides from her, so that he won't scare her away. They rush to the surface now. He feels exposed and yet unwilling to summon one of his usual quips and turn the moment into a joke. She raises her eyes to his to find him looking at her. It's been hard for Isabel to acknowledge the depth of Alex's feelings for her. If she did, it might upset the delicate balance of their relationship. So far it's been mostly about him being there for her when she needs him. She hadn't quite realized how unfair this is to Alex until now. 

He reaches over to push a strand of hair away from her eyes and picks up her hand resting on his forearm, watching her closely as he brings it up to press a gentle kiss in the center of her open palm. Looking at the emotions on his open face, she suddenly understands that despite her best efforts, she can't keep her relationship with Alex limited to a safe, well-defined part of her life. She can no longer avoid taking responsibility for not hurting him and without making a conscious decision, she knows she's accepted that reality. She should be scared by how this is going to complicate her life, but right now she's not afraid of anything. They exchange happy smiles, knowing that no one else could possibly understand how they feel.

When they get to UNM, Scott has no problems finding a spot in the student union parking lot. On week-end nights after hours, it's mostly empty. They decide to leave most of their stuff in the car for now. Alex picks up a couple of mats for them to sit on and the girls get their daypacks while Scott grabs his guitar case. Isabel watches him with concern. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Does this mean they're in for an evening of participatory music? 

They walk out of the parking lot past the dark and crowded Coffee House, obviously a favorite hangout for students on Saturday nights. Right next door is the new student union which houses the ticket office. The building is mostly deserted but there are a few diehards waiting at the door. 

Alex nudges Scott. "That must be where the line is starting. Let's drop our stuff and we can go over to the green to hang out for a while." They approach the two college students at the end of the line who are talking animatedly and say hi. 

"Hey there, when did you guys get in line?"

"Around 5pm. We all got there around the same time."

"Cool. We'll be over on the grass. Talk to you later." 

They spread a mat and drop one of their bags on it to save space in the line. Scott and Cathy have already headed out to the little patch of grass surrounded by three scraggly pine trees. They are settling down. Alex takes Isabel's hand and walks over to the spot they picked.

"I'm going to show Isabel around the campus a bit. See you guys later." Alex waves and tugs Isabel behind him. He loves the campus. The buildings have an unmistakable Southwestern style that give them a very distinct personality. They walk past the new student union. Past the corner, in front of them, is the largest fountain on campus, with the old student union on one side, the campus bookstore and post office on the other. 

There are ten or so students enjoying the warm evening, splashing each other and playing with water around the fountain. Everybody seems to be having fun. Alex and Isabel stop to watch for a minute. Several students are drenched from head to toe. Alex steals a glance at Isabel, wondering if now would be the time to test how many changes of clothes she brought with her. She looks back at him reading his intentions before they're fully formed. 

"So what else is there on this campus?" Isabel asks suddenly in a hurry to get away from the fountain. Alex hates to pass up on such a great opportunity to tease Isabel, but tonight he's trying to show her that he's not all about goofiness and fun. Alex Charles Whitman can be as poised and romantic as any guy and then some. So he gives her his most charming smile. "We could go up the Clock Tower. There's an elevator to the last floor and you can see the whole area from up there. It's really nice." He suggests. This is the kind of romantic stuff girls love. 

Isabel is surprised but relieved that he gave up so easily on his plans for the fountain. She considers his suggestion and nods. "Okay." Alex leads on past plumeria trees and several large cactus. There are red hibiscus in bloom and lily of the nile everywhere. The plumeria flowers smell wonderful. Alex stops in front of a small tree with smooth, light grey bark and insists on having Isabel smell one of the fragrant blossoms. 

"I brought back a cutting from a plumeria tree when my parents and I went to Hawaii ten years ago, and I planted it in our back yard. It took forever for it to get established. At first I didn't think it would survive, so I spent a ton of time taking care of it every day. Now it's bigger than I am." Isabel looks at Alex. He's so different from any of the guys she knows. She wouldn't want to change anything about him.

"The flowers smell incredible. They seem like such a tropical plant. You must be a pretty good gardener." Isabel looks at Alex with admiration, thinking about all the care he put into his little tree from Hawaii.

"I kept remembering how beautiful those flowers looked and how they smelled of paradise." He whispers, moving closer to her. Isabel has been dying to kiss him ever since that moment in the car when he looked at her with such intensity. She got a bit side tracked, but it's all coming back to her now that they are finally alone together. She hums her approval when he touches his lips to hers and immediately deepens the kiss, putting an arm around his neck to bring him close.

They walk hand in hand to the Clock Tower and take the elevator to the terrace on the last floor. As they contemplate the view, Alex points out the landmarks he's familiar with. "This place is so great. I love Albuquerque. There's so much going on here compared to Roswell. Sometimes my Dad takes me up here with him during the summer when he has a class to teach on campus. There is a really good planetarium in town. We should go there sometime. They have open telescope nights where they let the public come in and use the giant telescope." Alex thinks of how close Isabel and he have gotten over the past few months since they first looked at stars together on that camping trip. He would never have imagined it would be possible. 

When they get back to the spot where they left Scott and Cathy, Scott is playing a crowd favorite and there's a small group gathered around him. Alex and Isabel sit down next to them to enjoy the music on this sweet summer evening.

i'm trying to tell you something about my life  
maybe give me insight between black and white  
and the best thing you've ever done for me  
is to help me take my life less seriously   
it's only life after all  
yeah

well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable  
and lightness has a call that's hard to hear  
i wrap my fear around me like a blanket  
i sailed my ship of safety till i sank it  
i'm crawling on your shores

i went to the doctor, i went to the mountains  
i looked to the children, i drank from the fountains  
there's more than one answer to these questions   
pointing me in a crooked line  
and the less i seek my source for some definitive  
  
the closer i am to fine  
the closer i am to fine

By the end of the evening, Scott has pretty much gone through his whole repertoire and is taking requests. Isabel is leaning on Alex's shoulder. She has been enjoying herself tremendously. It's wonderful to be able to relax and act like a normal teenager for once, hanging out with her boyfriend and his friends. It's getting really late and she's just about ready to fall asleep sitting up. But she doesn't want the evening to end. Alex looks down at her. "Hey, getting sleepy?" 

"Hmmm…" She nods but without conviction. It would take too much energy. Alex gets to his feet, pulling her up with him. "Let's go get our stuff."

Later, they spread their sleeping bags and mats next to each other. The night has gotten cool like it always does in the desert. Alex gets into his sleeping bag and invites Isabel to cuddle up. She settles on his shoulder and they look at the stars above them. Alex quickly locates the North Star, Cygnus and Vega. These days when he looks at stars light years away from Earth, barely noticeable in the night sky, he feels a little closer to them because his life has been touched by someone who came from out there. It's as if he shares a secret with them. 

"Thanks for inviting me to join you. I really had a good time." Isabel says softly.

Alex turns to look at her and grins. "Me too." Pretty soon they're both asleep. Alex dreams of the last IG concert he went to a year ago in Albuquerque. Isabel finds herself wandering into his dream. She smiles when she recognizes where they are. Alex is so happy to see her, she decides to follow his lead and she has wonderful time dancing and listening to the music.

The End

Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan

Closer to Fine by Indigo Girls


End file.
